The Candarli family dominated the early Ottoman central state apparatus for over a century, producing several important grand viziers as well as a number of other officials. During this time, the Ottomans changed from a small raiding principality to a world empire coextensive with Byzantium in its heyday, ruled from its former capital of Constantinople (Istanbul). This transformation happened largely under the leadership of the Candarli family, whose founder Kara Halil Hayreddin Pasa is credited (or better yet, blamed) by various early Ottoman chronicles for the introduction of such imperial institutions as the janissaries and central taxation. This paper will briefly present the problems associated with studying the Candarli, whose image for posterity has been tarnished by their demonization in the chronicles, and how these problems can be remedied by a critical reading of the texts in question alongside other sources.